Chekhov's Mistress
President Kennedy is Dead… (and other news from the NEA)
Mentioned: National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) research report, Gioia’s presentation, avid readers vs. frequent readers, literacy in Africa.
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) released a research report that unhappily concludes fewer Americans spend their leisure time reading “literature.” Literature here is defined as essentially anything fictional, but despite the lack of specificity in terms of the quality of what we are reading, the report indicates a general trend towards NOT READING AT ALL.
I’m not sure where all those people muscling their way through the line at B&N come from then, but beyond questioning the dramatic conclusions of the report, I wonder why the government always insists on spending money on telling us things that we likely know already. The much heralded report – 300 people were in attendance at the NY Public Library for Mr. Gioia’s presentation – should come as a surprise to no one. Also, the report claims the obvious in its conclusion that the demands of reading literature can’t keep up with competition from electronic media, which by its nature, requires less mental effort.
Hopefully though, we are at some sort of nadir in our il-leisurely-literacy, because “at the current rate of loss, literary reading as a leisure activity will virtually disappear in half a century.” Okay, that’s dramatic.
Lastly, I just want to say that I can no longer call myself an avid reader. That lofty title is reserved, according to the NEA, for those that read 50 or more books per year (no matter if they are pulp or Pushkin). So I am now categorically a “frequent” reader (12 to 49 per year). Thanks NEA.
The original report is at NEA – Reading at Risk.
p.s. If you think we have problems, the World Bank says that the average illiteracy rate in Africa is 45%. But of course, that reminds me of the quote by Mark Twain (I hope I have this right) “The man who doesn’t read is as ignorant as the man who can’t.”
p.p.s. I was feeling that my entry on this topic might appear anti-NEA or flippant toward the decline of reading in this country. None of that is true. Certainly, my opinion toward anything governmental, which is always tinged with skepticism, is at odds with what I see as a need for “moral” leadership on the part of government to support the arts, which are indeed facing a crisis of disinterest in the land of the brave.
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About this Post
- Posted by: Bud Parr
- Date: July 08, 2004
- Filed Under:
Wise Men Fish Here: Literature
- Comments:0
- Links to this Post: Technorati
